Big Ten Logo

In most cases, modifications of the Big Ten logo have been connected with the changing number of the participating schools.

Meaning and History logo

Before the 1990s, the Big Ten Conference used a roundel logotype. The names of the participating schools formed a circle, which, in its turn, was placed inside a red circle frame. In the center, there was the map showing where the teams were located and the lettering “Big Ten Conference”.

Symbol

When Pennsylvania State became one of the members, the number of schools reached 11. However, the name of the organization remained unchanged. Instead, the logotype was altered to include the number eleven in the negative space of the wordmark.

The 2010 emblem

In 2010, one more member, the University of Nebraska, appeared on the list, which made the previous logotype irrelevant. Instead of it, the international design consultancy Pentagram developed a new emblem. The wordmark was designed so that you may see “BIG” and “10”, as there is an embedded “10” in the word “BIG”. This effect is possible due to the shape of the letter “I”, which reminds the numeral “1”, and the letter “G”, which is almost closed and thus resembles “0”.

Font

The Big Ten Conference wordmark features custom letters. It is perfectly natural, taking into consideration the need to embed the numeral “10” in the logo.

Color

The two dominant colors of the Big Ten logo are black and sky blue, while white serves as the background.